The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a fast start. Sitting at 23-10, good enough for the second-best record in the Western Conference. In the Month of December, the Thunder really took off, ripping through the month with a 10-3 campaign.
As the OKC Thunder see two road wins over the Denver Nuggets, topple the T-Wolves, dismiss the Warriors, cut the Clippers, and knock off the Knicks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to lead the way for the franchise.
Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander made the leap from fringe All-Star right to Superstardom, making his first Mid-winter classic, the max contract point guard also ended fifth in MVP voting on the way to his first First-team All-NBA honor.
This year, after a Summer of dominating the FIBA World Cup, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has come back to the NBA even better. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31 points, six rebounds, and over six assists per game while swiping a league-high 2.6 steals per game and nearly chipping in a block per tilt.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes home his first Western Conference Player of the Month Award as the OKC Thunder make history.
In the month of December, Gilgeous-Alexander kicked it into overdrive as he helped lift Oklahoma City to a 10-3 record. Averaging 32 points, five rebounds, six assists, and three steals per tilt to go along with 55 percent shooting from the floor, 26 percent from beyond the arc, and 88 percent at the charity stripe.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won Player of the Month for the Western Conference pic.twitter.com/JrSLJgKjsm
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) January 4, 2024
Gilgeous-Alexander has been putting up flashy numbers and truly making a high-level impact for a few seasons now, but the lack of team success has held him back from garnering a ton of accolades until last season.
This marks the first Western Conference Player of the Month award for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as he edges out Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Kawhi Leonard for this honor.
After the first 33 games of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's career, he comfortably sits in the top three of the MVP race, and you could argue he should be the leader in the clubhouse for the award. This is a well-deserved honor for the Thunder's franchise player.
Earlier this afternoon, it was announced by the NBA that Thunder's big man Chet Holmgren won the Rookie of the Month award. This marks just the sixth time in NBA History that the Rookie of the Month and Player of the Month have played for the same team.